New stretch target

Reaching this amazing amount of money would hugely reduce the amount we need to borrow and allow us to get our barrel-ageing programme up and running sooner – as well as making sure our bar is lively and exciting from the word go!

In early 2018 BeerMerchants.com will open its first physical site at 99 Wallis Road in Hackney Wick. Our aim is to create London's best craft beer bar and bottleshop, as well also found the UK's first lambic-inspired blendery – all in an airy, sociable and spacious pub.

These ambitious plans won't come cheap, so we've worked out a way to reduce our borrowing while offering our future customers free beer! For every £1 you invest, we'll give you £2 to spend in the Tap and 5% off online for life. With a minimum investment of £50, you'll get a £100 bar tab to spend – valid for life.

With the money we raise we'll be able to deck out the 3,000 sq ft warehouse shell that was once the home of central books. There is a huge amount of work to be done to turn it into one of the country's best beer bars, but actually we have done most of the hard stuff already.

About the site & us

Beer Merchants is the sister company of Cave Direct, a family run business that imports and distributes amazing beer all over the UK. This base gives us access to the world's best beers, including our good friends at Paulaner and Kona, as well as Cantillon, 3 Fonteinen, De Dolle, Lervig and lots of amazing British craft breweries who we work with. Our taplist is going to be rammed with incredible beers and so will our huge fridges, where you can take away beer at online prices or drink in.

We'll also use these contacts to help us found the UK's first sour blendery, taking spontaneous beer from the UK and eventually the rest of the world and blending them to create lambic-inspired barrel-aged sour beers that will only be available to buy and drink at the Tap. The barrel room will also make a spectacular space for everything from team meetings to beer dinners, film nights and live music.

We hope to be a great addition to the local businesses, complementing the pubs and breweries already in Hackney Wick and even working with local producers for our food offering. On top of that, the Beer Merchants Tap will act as a school of excellence for beer sensory training and cellar tech for Cave Direct's trade customers so we're supporting other pubs around the country.

The deal (free beer!)

We don't expect to fund the whole venture through this crowdfunding, but we hope to reduce borrowing costs and fill our bar with beer lovers from the start. In return get to double your money on our 24-strong tap list and 700-wide bottle and can selection (drink in only)! All members will also get 5% off on BeerMerchants.com for life. Unfortunately we can't offer any rewards to people investing less than £50, other than our thanks and a huge welcome when you come in!